Ottawa is the capital of Canada, located in the eastern part of the province of Ontario. The population as of 2001 was approximately 774,072 people. The Ottawa region has a population of approximately 1,110,498. The mayor of the city today (2004) is Bob Chiarelli.

The Ottawa region was long home to First Nations peoples who were part of the Algonquin. The first European settlement in the Ottawa region was that of Philemon Wright who started a community on the Quebec side of the river in 1800. Wright discovered that trasnporting timber by river from the Ottawa Valley to Montreal was possible and Ottawa was soon booming based almost entirely off timber. The city grew even further in importance when the Rideau Canal was constructed by Colonel John By. The city was then known as Bytown, but it was incorporated as Ottawa in 1855.
On December 31, 1857 Queen Victoria, asked to settle a dispute between Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, Kingston and Ottawa, chose Ottawa to be the capital of Canada. This decison was made because it was midway between the centres of French and English population. The city was also far further from the American border and was thus safer from attack than the other options.

The original Parliament Buildings in Ottawa burned down on February 3, 1916. The House of Commons was temporarily relocated to the Victorian era building which was then the Museum of Man, and is currently (2004) the Canadian Museum of Nature, located about 1 km south of Parliament hill at the opposite end of Metcalfe Street. New parliament buildings were completed in 1922, the centre-piece of which is a dominant gothic revival styled structure known as the peace tower which has become a common emblem of the city.

In 2001, the city of Ottawa was amalgamated with the suburbs of Nepean, Kanata, Gloucester, Rockcliffe Park, Vanier and Cumberland, and the rural townships of West Carleton, Osgoode, Rideau and Goulbourn, to become one municipality.